President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair in Washington is again going viral for having a meager crowd, this time for a musical act that counted more band members than fans in the audience.
Around 11 a.m., a multi-piece youth band with a large horn section was playing a cover of “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé, as a group of about five people sat in front of the stage, while a few more looked on from further away.
“The 11 a.m. Tuesday time slot is at the Great American State Fair is apparently not the most fruitful, as there are more musicians in the band than spectators,” NOTUS reporter Dave Levinthal, who filmed the event, wrote on X.
“The band, consisting of young musicians, including a helluva brass section, was quite good,” he added.
Online commenters soon mocked the performance as the latest blunder at the fair, which has suffered from what appears to be poor attendance and a string of musicians backing out of their performances since the event opened last Wednesday.
“A bootleg ‘Crazy in Love’ cover playing to an empty audience,” author Sowmya Krishnamurthy wrote in a post on X. “This is Trump’s legacy.”
“It’s possible everyone in the country has the wrong set of dates for Trump’s fair,” another social media user joked.
“The Mall in the summer is a big tourist destination,” Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote on X, resharing video of the performance. “Tourists, locals on their lunch break, people tossing frisbees, etc. A strong case can be made that there are FEWER people here than there would be but for Trump’s Tacky Craptacular.”
The Independent has sought comment from the White House and Freedom 250, a Trump-aligned group helping to plan American 250th anniversary events.
Throughout the fair, live shots of the grounds have shown large empty spaces on the National Mall, though these images don’t capture attendance at the event’s indoor booths celebrating all 50 states.
Freedom 250 previously told The Independent that more than 150,000 people had attended the fair in its first three days.
In an early Monday post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the fair was “packed with happy people,” echoing his similarly unsupported claims that his Wednesday kickoff speech at the event drew a crowd of “at least 45,000 people.”
Fox News reporters have also claimed numerous people are in fact attending the event.
“Sometimes the pictures really don’t tell the full story because if you look behind us, you see, OK, there are a couple hundred people back there,” reporter Kevin Corke said in one segment. “But the truth is, when you make your way over here … you’re in a wash of people.”
Washington could be in for more problems as part of July 4 celebrations.
A speech from President Trump on Saturday has meant the capital is delaying its fireworks show to a new, late-night start time.
